Erasing-shield for type-writing machines.



B. P. FORTIN.

ERASING SHIELD FoR TYPE WRITING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.25. 9l4`.

Patented Sept. 7, 1915.

'UNiTED 4sirarns PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN P. FORTIN, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO UNDERWOOD TYPE- WRITER COMPANY, F. NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

E R'ASINGr-SHIIEIZ) FOR TYPE-WRITING MACHINES.

Application filed February 25, 1914. Serial No. 820,809.

To all 'whom 'it may concern Be it known that I', BENJAMIN P. .FoRTIN, a citizen of the United States, residing 1n Hartford, in the county ofHartford and .ner to approachv the platen and to be vi- Y brated vertically across the printing zone oftheplaten. The eraser carrier whichis thus supported is connected by a link with a key lever having joints lof such characterk that upon depression of said lever, as bythe and in its continued movement, to vibrate or .pressuref of the operatorsiinger, the connecting link is first caused to 'rock the eraser carrier to bring the eraser against` the platen,

rock the said carrier vertically te producethe rubbing eiect ofthel eraser against the work `surface on the platen. It is, of courseunfl i 'vertlcally over the front surface of the usual derstood that the vertical rocking motion of the .eraser carrier in one direction is ef- I fected bythe depression of the linger key,

' while the returnmovement is communicated by a tensional return device.

vIt is an. important feature 'of mv invention that while the vibrating action is provided j and the eraser held against the platen for f render sai e 3 5 erasing pur oses, the necessary pressure to n action -eli'ective for erasmg purposes 1s supplied 1n the constructlon and arrangement of the supporting and `actuat- ,ing mechanisms between the finger key and eraser, whereby the only operation required of the operator is to vibratethe finger key, whereupon the matter requiring erasure is speedilyy and eiiiciently removed.

-` Other objects and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective elevation illustrating a portion on an Underwood typewriting machine including the mount for the type bars, the platen, and the parts comprising myeraser support and its operative connections. Fig.

2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a Specification of Letters Patent. Y

detail of the eraser holder, also showing the y eraser removed from said holder.

l Infcarrying out my invention, I provide a holder for arectangular piece of rubber or other erasing material, said holder comprising an arm 1, having at one end a pair of gripping iingers 2 separated to hold between them a piece of rubber or otherL eraser of rectangular form, said eraser being held byA an intermediate bend at 1a, whereby the rear j portion of said arm, by which it is pivoted,

as at 1b, to a link 3, may lie nearer to the platen than the forward portion of lsaid arm, which latter may be distanced from the platen to provide room for its fingers 2 and the eraser 2a carried thereby. Said arm 1, at its rear portion aforesaid, has a right-angular flange 1C, and .vertically through said flange is'pivoted, as at 1d, to one arm of an angle bracket 4', whoseother arm,` which extends mounty for the'type bars, .and is pivoted to said mount as by pivot 4a. .Thus the arm 1 is enabled, by reason of its pivotal engagezontally into operative *contact against-the work surface. ,The pivoteda and 1d form what is substantially a universal joint. 'The connections at 1b -andffelsewhere are loose enough to provide the lvery slight play needed.

The link 3"aforesaid, .extendsdown to a horizontal key lever 5, with which it hasy pivotal engagement, as at 5,said link having a bend 3a to allow it to pass the shaft of the' ribbon-,winding ratchet, (not ,shown)..l Said lever 5 is fulcrumed at its rearend as '9 at 5'? to a lug 5 extending below the rear portion of the frame, and said lever extends forwardly to a point near the-key board,

where it is pivoted at dto an extension arm 6 which has a vertically extending support 6 for a finger-key 6", whichlatter may be said spring extending forwardly and up-` wardly to its anchorage with the frame from its point of connection with said link, thereby exerting tension to support the lever 5 as rocked upwardly upon the pivot 5d to tensionally hold the eraser yend of bar 1 in its lower position. In the operation of the de; vice it will therefore be seen that upon a depression of the finger-key, the eraser holding arm 1 is rocked upon pivot 4a to move upwardly the free end of saidframe which carries the eraser, because the link 3 moves downwardly under the depressed movement that is thus communicated to lever 5. But at the genesis ofthe aforesaid depressed movement of the linger key, a forward Vpull is imparted from the pivot 7a to the pivot .7b through the U-shaped link 7, this forward pull being slight in extent, but nevertheless positive, serving to rock the arm 1 upon pivot 1d to move the eraser holder on said arm toward theplaten. This forward pull is accounted for by the fact that when depressing the iinger key extension 6a, the pivot 7b must follow the forward arc described by pivot 7a in turning aboutthe main lever fulcrum 5b, and therefore, necessarily, the pivot 7 b, being located in a portion of the U-shaped link 7, rigid withnthe other U-shaped portion carrying pivot 7,

and said link 3 being mounted on the pivot 7b with itsy fulcrum at 5a in lever 5, must therefore be moved forwardly to satisfy the displacement thus created. In that movement the ver-tical extension 6c and a portion of the U-shaped member carrying pivot 7a, break away with a kind of toggle action, the connecting bar of the U-shaped member 7 swinging back slightly, while its bar pivoted at 7b swings Aslightly forward to'follow the displacing movement ofl its portion pivoted at 7 a. After releasing the finger pressure from the key, the spring 8 operates to return lever 5 to its normal position, in which act the several connecting vparts are also returned and the eraserperforms its return stroke. But in thisV return stroke, there is no pressure upon the eraser since the forwardly directed pressure against the eraser has been relieved.` The operation of erasing is therefore performed by a series of spring returned downward strokes upon the finger-key, under whose influence the eraser 1s first .pressed closely against the work surface and in the continuance of each downward stroke isirubb'ed across the particular pointonthe work sheet on the ing line where erasure is desired.

lWhile I have shown the Vvarious parts of the apparatus including the key lever, links, and eraser arm as formed out of sheet metal, it is perfectly obvious that I am not limited to such construction of these-parts and that they may be otherwise suitably designed.

It will be noted in the drawing that the link 3 has a right-angle turn where its point of connection is indicated at 3"l with pivot l", this being for the obvious purpose of allowing link material for the`pivotal con-l` nection to be made, while leaving the greater width of the material of said vlink lying in the direction of its movement, for the-sake of rigidity. 1

\. As will be perfectly evident from the fore- 'going description of my mechanically-operated eraser device, this invention is not limited to use with typewriting or other 'printing machines. I therefore, desire in this application to claim the mechanicallyoperated eraser wherever it can be practically employed. Y

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention, and portions' of the improvements may be used without others.

Having thus described my linvention, I

clalm print- 1. In a typewriting machine, the combina- I tion with a key lever pivoted therein, of an g eraser holder pivotally supported on a universal joint adjacent to the platen, and

means between said lever and holder to opery' ate the latter by the former. 2. In a typewriting machine, the combination of an eraser holder mounted on the machine frame and supporting the eraser in op-.

tion of an eraser holder consisting of an arm pivotally supported in parallelism with the platen inmanner to vibrate vertically, said holder carrying an eraser, a horizontally pivoted bracket supportingy said arm, a lingerkey, and connections between said holder and finger-key to operate the latter by the former.

4. In a typewriting machine, the combination of an eraser holder consisting of an arm bent into two portions extending substantially parallell and pivotally supported in parallelism with the platen in manner to vibrate vertically', said holder carrying an eraser, means also permitting said holder to vibrate horizontally, a finger-key, and connections between said iinger-keyand holder to operate the latter by the former.

5. In a typewriting machine, the combination of a platen, van eraser holder mounted to vibrate at one end across and against the printing zone on said platen, a universaljointed arm carrying said holder, a key lever, and a link pivotally connecting said holder and lever'.

- 6. In a typewriting machine, the combination of a platen, an eraser holder mounted to vibrate at one end acrossand against theV printing zone on said platen, a key lever fulcrumed vat the rear of the machine, and having a forward pivotal piece for finger actuation, a link connecting said holder and lever, to operate the former by the latter, and a U-shaped link pivotally connecting said forward pivotal piece and link.

7. In a typewriting machine, the combination of an eraser holder consisting of an arm pivotally supported in parallelism with the platen, a horizontal-pivoted bracket supporting said arm, said holder carrying an eraser, a nger key, and tensionally held connections between said holder and ngerkey to operate the latter by the former.

. 8. In a typewriting machine, the combination of an eraser holder consisting of an arm plvotally supported in parallelism with the platen in manner to vibrate vertically, said holder carrying an eraser, means also permitting said holder to vibrate horizontally, a linger-key, and'tensionally held connections between said finger-key and holder to operate thelatterby the former. I'

9. 'In a typewriting machine, in combination, a platen, an eraser holder comprising an arm carrying an eraser at one end, said arm lying in parallelism with said platen, an angle bracket pivotally carrying said arm `for horizontal vibration, and said bracket being pivotally supported for vertical vibration with said arm, a nger-key, and connections between said finger-key and holder to operate the latter by the former.

10. In a typewriting machine, in combination, a platen, an eraser .holder comprising an arm carrying an eraser at one end, said arm lying in parallelism with said platen, an angle bracket pivotally carrying said arm for horizontal vibration, `and said bracket being pivotally supported for vertical vibration with said arm, a finger-key, and tensionally held connections between said linger-key and holder to operate the latter" by the former.

11. A mechanical eraser comprising anA eraser holder, a universal-jointed arm upon which said holder is mounted to vibrate over an impression surface,` and means actuating said holder.

12. A mechanical eraser comprising an eraser holder, a universal-jointed arm upon which saidv holder is mounted to vibrate over an impression surface, a linger-key, and

'means /between said holder and linger-key to'actuate the former-.by the latter.

13. A mechanical eraser comprising an eraser holder, a universal-jointed arm upon.I

which said holder is mounted to vibrate across an impression surface, means to press said holder toward the impression surface, a finger-key, and means between said holder and finger-key to actuate the former by the 15.- A mechanical eraser comprising an' eraser holder consisting of an arm pivoted to vibrate on angularly disposed aXes and carrying an eraser; said arm pivotally mounted to vibrate said eraser across an impression surface, a linger-key, and tensionally held connections between said holder and finger-key to operate the former by the latter.

16. A mechanical eraser comprising an eraser holder consisting of an arm pivoted to vibrate on angularly disposed aXes and carrying `an eraser, said arm pivotally mounted to vibrate rsaid eraser both to and from and across an impression surface, a finger-key, and tensionally held connections between said holder and finger-key, to operate the former by the latter.

17. A mechanical eraser comprising an eraser holder consisting of an arm carrying an eraser, a support for said arm fulcrumed to afford a Vibrating action to saideraser across an impression surface, and a pivotal connection between said arm and support to permit vibratory action of the eraser in the direction of the impression surface, a fingerkey, and connections between said arm and finger-key to operate the former by .the latter.

18. In a machine to create impressions, the combination of an eraser holder consisting of an arm pivotally supported in parallelism with the impression surface in man-' ner to vibrate across said impression surface, said holder carrying an eraser, means horizontal oscillation, a bracket having a arm pivoted to said key lever, and a link at horizontal and a Hat vertical member, connecting s'aid extension' arm and first 10 said larm neingd pvotid onv the horizontal?l named link. mem er o sai rac et, a ivotpassing l v through the vertial member olf) said bracket .z BENJAMIN P' FORTIN' into the frame off'the machine, a link pivoted Witnesses:

to the far end of said arm, a key lever to W. M. DYORKMAN,

which said link is also pivoted, an extension LYMAN. D. BROUGHTON. 

